Kozhikode is one of the two latest entrants into the Unesco Creative Cities Network from India. Unesco published the list of 55 new creative cities on Tuesday, World Cities Day, in which Kozhikode has been given the tag of City of Literature, the first to hold the title in the country. Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh is the other creative city on the list, having bagged the City of Music tag.
In a release, Unesco stated that the new cities were acknowledged for their strong commitment to harnessing culture and creativity as part of their development strategies, and displaying innovative practices in human-centred urban planning.
With the latest additions, there are 350 creative cities in the network, in more than 100 countries, representing seven creative fields; Crafts and Folk Art, Design, Film, Gastronomy, Literature, Media Arts, and Music.
Kozhikode decided to work for the City of Literature tag in 2022 based on a proposal by the Kerala Institute of Local Administration. The Kozhikode Corporation sprung into action as soon as the idea was proposed, getting in touch with the University of Prague in the Czech Republic, seeking help with the preparations, as Prague was the first city to get the tag in 2014.
Ludmila Kolouchova, a research student from the university, came down to Kozhikode and helped with the preparations through a comparative study between Kozhikode and Prague. Her studies showed that Kozhikode had more than 500 libraries and over 70 publishers which provided the city a firm ground to apply.
Being a permanent venue for the annual Kerala Literature Festival and several book fests added value to the city’s claim. The city fulfilled most of the criteria for the tag such as sufficient number of institutions taking care of its literary life, its ability and experience to organise different kinds of literary events, and an appropriate level of literary education along with quality, quantity, and diversity of literary activities.
The newly designated creative cities are invited to participate in the UCCN annual conference from July 1 to 5, 2024 in Braga, Portugal, under the theme ‘Bringing youth to the table for the next decade’.
